When Porsche first introduced the idea of the 918 Spyder I struggled to get properly excited for what would be Porsche's pinnacle achievement.

It looked too simplistic and almost ordinary for a supercar to me, not much more than an overgrown Boxster. The impressive technical specs failed to impress, it seemed to be more of an exercise in what can be done rather than what might be necessary. Then I saw one on the street well before it went on sale and it was immediately clear that it is a proper super car and then some. Yet, I still wasn't sold on the 918. The EPA fuel economy ratings of 20/24 were released and I applauded the Porsche engineering team for the numbers. The first instrumented tests followed and only then was I truly impressed. I finally saw the 918 as a performance machine that eclipses the Veyron and the entire package became that much more appealing.

Has a vehicle's performance completely changed how you look at it? The Challenger Hellcat looks to be doing so for many.

Well they create hype which leads to brand desire which leads to fascination or at least that's the idea. And all that leads to more pricey sales down the line. All the German brands have one. And most importantly to Porsche Ferrari always has them every 10 years or so and Porsche wants to be on that same level, or at least they see themselves there. Ferrari also uses them as a perk to its most loyal clients so Porsche and other brands could do the same.

Cars are nothing more than appliances and transportation tools. I do not treat cars like babies, I treat them like machines that are meant to function for me.

The European brands' vehicles fail to impress most people in terms of reliability and yet, thanks to their marketing strategy and all the hype that they create, they have succeeded in turning their car brands into something iconic, and also something that is the ultimate status symbol.

And Porsche is an overrated brand as well. Pretty much all European luxury brands are.

Why pay so much, for a car? It's just an appliance. It is nothing more than a "tool". Cars can break down and those European worshippers would spend over 100k to pay for the maintenance of their luxury European cars.

The American cars are in general, mostly garbage, unfortunately, failing in both sales and marketing, but I still think Hellcat and ZL1 are quite cheap and yet, very interesting.

The Japanese and the Americans understand the fact that, cars are not something that are worth more than 140k, which is why they do not really focus on making a million dollar supercars and such. And also, they both are not really interested in making super uber luxurious interior, etc, as you can see their brands like Lexus and Cadillac. It most likely has something to do with their cultures, as the modern Japan and the U.S. both are countries built by the middle class families. And that kind of philosophy is better for me, because after all, cars are just mere appliances. You can talk about how much soul there is in your M3, but that is practically nothing once it breaks down.

I was looking at used cars and this Chevy Trailblazer which costs around 5000 bucks looks quite appealing. A lot more appealing than an S class, LaFerrari, Aventador, Panamera, M3, etc.

To be fair I haven't seen anyone independently test it on a track yet. Acceleration wise it looks to be quicker of the line than the P1 but slower as speeds climb but essentially even through the quarter mile. So far it doesn't look like Ferrari has let anyone test the LaFerrari in any shape and perhaps they won't. They did allow Enzo testing but it looks like the brand has gotten more secretive. It might take a while to see a 911 with the same hybrid setup though but it could happen next generation.

Japanese cars are appliances, American & European cars are fun to drive cars with personalities. I couldn't resist the oppty to throw that back in your face... clearly you like appliances like Infiniti.

American cars are fun to drive. But not the Japanese. Tell me that when you actually have driven a sports car from Japan, because I know you have NOT driven a single one of them.

And I loved my Gs and Ms of Infiniti, why? Because I did not have to pay the German price but still they were quite fun to drive overall, whereas BMW is becoming more like a soccer mom vehicles. And I don't care much about interior, either.

You should keep living in your diluted fantasy world created by the marketing department of the European automakers.

And the most laughable part, the opposite of appliances is some fun car with personalities! rofl!! This is quite amusing.

I bet you think BMW has some kind of magic unicorn power with soul, whereas the Japanese make cars with origami, when they both are essentially the same stuff, same machine called "Automobiles" in the end. Your stupidity has no end, really.

And oh, Toyota is making their new Supra with BMW. I bet that will ALSO turn out to be a boring car with no soul for you, just because it is "Toyota"!

Seriously, xjug is like one of the stupidest kids I have ever seen in my entire life. So laughable. I bet your education level is somewhere along the line of "dropout".

T_T cars have as much personality as you project onto them, whether they are Japanese, American, Italian, etc. My friend's Chevy Corsica with 3 working cylinders and mismatched doors had more "personality" than another friend's Jag XKR, based on what you consider to be personality.

If a car speaks to you then it speaks to you, simple as that. Japanese love their cars as much as Americans and Europeans do, just look at the aero kits and other mods that are available for JDMs but not USDMs from Japanese manufacturers.

And obviously the capabilities of a car affect the perception of it. There's no question about that. It's why Jaguar will post Nurburgring lap times for its new high-end Range Rover. For some cars it matters more than others. The instrumented test results for a Chevy Malibu matter a whole lot less than those for the 2015 Z06 (which I am eagerly awaiting) because the former is just not really about those capabilities.

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